Alex Albon will start from the pits for the Sprint race
Having struggled in qualifying yesterday, the Williams driver will start from the pit lane for this afternoon's Sprint race at the Red Bull Ring. The Thai driver has accepted the penalty.
The Austrian weekend starts off difficultly for Alexander Albon. Beaten by Logan Sargeant in Sprint qualifying, he was due to start 19th on the grid this Saturday lunchtime. He eventually decided with his technical team at Williams to change the settings of his car between Friday and Saturday. They therefore broke the Parc Fermé rule:
Team Williams Racing made changes to the settings of car number 23 with the approval of the FIA technical delegate following a written request.
Therefore, car number 23 will now have to start from the pit lane in accordance with Article 40.9 of the 2024 Formula 1 Sporting Regulations.
Frustrated by his qualification, he planned to change his settings.
In the mixed zone after the Sprint qualifying session, he explained his disappointing session by a poor balance of the car:
(b) Honestly, it wasn’t mistakes, but I wasn’t good in turns 3 and 4. I had a bad balance and I couldn’t improve it, I tried to adapt my driving style but it didn’t work. Plus we had only one attempt in the Sprint qualifying session.
The Williams driver had already chosen to change his settings despite the Parc Fermé regulations:
« I regret not having been more extreme in my changes between practice sessions and qualifying. We will make changes to be better tomorrow.
The Sprint format forces drivers to quickly find the best settings during the only practice session of the weekend. Alexander Albon starts his Austrian Grand Prix poorly: it will be difficult for him to find a better rhythm now.
